s 



THE 



FARMER'UUIDE: 



A HAND-BOOK 



OF 



Valuable Information 



:foi^ :fj^k>is^ei:e^s. 



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VILLA NOVA, PA. : 

S. S. ANDERSON, Publisher. 

1880. 




Class 
Book 



S .S-oi 



^56- 



Copyright )J". 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



i-i V ^ •^ /J" 



ANDERSON'S 



FARMER'S GUIDE. 



CONTAINING 

A Collection of the most Valuable Information and Recipes 
on Subjects of E very-day Life : 

MANUFACTURING RECIPES THAT HAVE NEVER 
BEFORE BEEN PUBLISHED, &c. 



(j:. loni^ 



VILLA NOVA, PA. : 
S. S. ANDERSON, Publisher. 

r88o. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1880, by 

S. S. ANDERSON, 

in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 



c,<5'^^ 



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^J' 



FARMER'S GUIDE. 



Reader — In publishing this book we do it with the behef 
that it will be the means of doing much good to hundreds that 
have never before had the opportunity to obtain the information 
given in it. I call special attention to the secret of making the 
Centennial Gold Medal Prize Vinegar ; any industrious man 
can make quite a fortune by manufacturing for sale, if the 
instructions given in relation to it are closely followed. Good 
vinegar is an article required by everybody, and always has 
ready sale. We have been nearly twelve years in obtaining 
all the various facts and recipes contained in this book, also 
expending large sums of money for valuable and hitherto 
unknown recipes, all of which have been thoroughly tested. 



THE FARMER'S GUIDE. 



To Keep Butter During Hot Weather. 

A simple mode of keeping butter in warm weather is to invert 
a large crock of earthen or a flower-pot, if need be, (varying 
with the size of the vessel containing the butter) over the dish or 
firkin in which the butter is held. The porousness of the 
earthenware will keep the butter cool, and all the more so if the 
pot be wrapped in a wet cloth with a little water in the dish 
with the butter. Not the porosity of the earthenware, but the 
rapid absorption of the heat by external evaporation causes the 
butter to becom.e hard. 

To Correct Musty Flour. 

Carbonate of magnesia three pounds ; flour seven hundred 
and sixty-five pounds ; mix. This improves bad flour, causing 
it to become more wholesome, producing lighter and better 
bread than when alum is used, and absorbs and dissipates the 
mustv smell. 



Unerring Test for Good Flour. 

Good flour is white with a yellowish or straw color tint. 
Squeeze some of the flour in your hand; if good it will retain the 
shape given by the pressure. Knead a little between your fin- 
gers, if it works soft and sticky it is poor. Throw a little against 
a dry and perpendicular surface ; if it falls like powder it is bad. 

Premium Method of Keeping Hams, etc. 

To four gallons of water add eight pounds of coarse salt, 
quarter ounce potash, two ounces saltpetre, two pounds brown 
sugar. Boil together ; skim ; when cold, put on the above 
quantity to one hundred pounds of meat ; hams to remain in 
eight weeks, beef three weeks. Let the hams dry several days 
before smoking. Meat of all kinds, salmon and other fish, 
lobsters, etc., may be preserved for years by a light application 
of pyroligneous acid applied with a brush, sealing up in cans as 
usual. It imparts a splendid flavor to the meat, is very cheap 
and an effectual preservative against loss. 

To Restore Rancid Butter. 

Use one pint of water to each pound of butter, previously 
adding twenty grains of chloride of lime to each pint of water ; 
wash well the butter in this mixture, afterwards re-wash in cold 
water, and salt. 

Tomato Catsup. 

Boil one bushel of tomatoes until they are soft, squeeze them 
through a fine wire sieve, add a pint and a half of salt, two 
ounces cayenne pepper, five heads of onions skinned and sepa- 
rated, and' boil till reduced to one-half ; then bottle. 

To Cure Pains in tlie Feet Occasioned by Waiicing. 

If your feet become painful from walking or standing too 
long, put them into warm salt and water, mixed in proportion 



of two large handfuls of salt to a gallon of water. Sea water 
made warm is still better. Keep your feet and ankles in the 
water until they begin to feel cool, rubbing them well with your 
hands ; then wipe them dry, then rub them long and hard 
with a coarse towel. WHiere the feet are tender and easily 
fatigued, it is an excellent practice to go through this regularly 
every night, also on coming home from a walk. With perse- 
verance this has cured neuralgia in the feet. 

To Mend Tinware by the Heat of a Candle. 

Take a vial about two-thirds full of muriatic acid and put in- 
to it little bits of sheet zinc, as long as it dissolves them, then put 
in a crumb of sal-ammoniac and fill up with water and it is 
ready for use. Then with the cork of the vial wet the place to 
be mended with the preparation, then put a piece of sheet zinc 
over the hole and hold a lighted candle or spirit-lamp under 
the place, which melts the solder on the tin and causes the zinc 
to adhere without further trouble. Wet the zinc also with the 
solution, or a little solder may be put on instead of the zinc or 
with the zinc. 

How to Test the Richness of Milk. 

Procure a long glass vessel, a cologne bottle or a long phial. 
Take a narrow strip of paper just the length from the neck to 
the bottom of the phial and mark it off with one hundred lines 
at equal distances, or into fifty lines, count each as two and 
paste it upon the phial so as to divide its length into a hundred 
equal parts ; fill it to the highest mark with milk fresh from the 
cow and allow it to stand in a perpendicular position for twenty- 
four hours. The number of spaces occupied by the cream will 
give you its exact percentage in the milk without any guess 
work. 

How to Keep Apples Fresh and Sound all Winter. 

I discovered a very superior way of preserving apples until 
spring. By it any apple in good condition when packed will be 



8 

equally as good when unpacked, and even those rotting because 
not in good condition when put away, will not injure the others. 
Take fine dry saw dust, preferably that made by a circular saw 
from well seasoned hard wood, and place a thick layer on the 
bottom of the barrel. Then place a layer of apples, not close 
together and not close to the staves of the barrel. Put saw dust 
liberally over and around, and proceed until a bushel and a 
half (or less) are so packed in each barrel. There is money in 
this applied to choice apples. 

To Make Maple Sugar Without Maple Trees. 

Though the secret I am about to reveal may seem very 
simple (when explained), I believe there are few who would 
discover it of their own accord. The value of the maple sugar 
crop is considerable, and there is a ready sale for all that can 
be made. I was led by curiosity to boil down a little sap of 
butternut one time with an equal quantity of maple sap, and 
the result was a sugar which I could not distinguish from pure 
maple. I experimented further and found that if a little com- 
mon (cane) sugar was added to the sap of the butternut, it 
would do as well as an addition of maple sap, I found that 
the sap of birch and several other trees would also make (when 
a very little cane sugar was added) a sugar which in looks and 
taste exactly resembled maple. To be able to make " maple" 
sugar from trees not heretofore deemed valuable for the pur- 
pose is just so much clear profit. 

Cider Without Apples. 

Water one gallon, common sugar one pound, tartaric acid 
half ounce, yeast one tablespoonful, shake well. Make in the 
evening and it will be fit for use the next day. 

Cheap Cider. 

Put in a cask five gallons of hot water, fifteen pounds of brown 
sugar, one gallon molasses, one-half gallon hop or brewers' 



yeast, good vinegar six quarts. Stir well, add twenty-five gal- 
lons cold water, ferment at last. 

Best Wash for Barns and Houses. 

Water lime one peck, freshly slacked lime one peck, four 
pounds yellow ochre in powder, four pounds burnt umber. To 
be dissolved with hot water and applied with brush. 

Farmers' Paint. 

Farmers will find the following profitable for house or fence 
paint. Skim milk two quarts, fresh slacked lime eight ounces, 
linseed oil six ounces, white Burgundy pitch two ounces, Spanish 
white three pounds. The lime is to be slacked in water ex- 
posed to the air, and then mixed with about one-fourth of the 
milk, the oil in which the pitch is dissolved to be added a little 
at a time, then the rest of the milk, and afterwards the Spanish 
white. This is sufficient for twenty-seven yards, two coats. 
This is for white paint ; if desirable any other color may be pro- 
duced. For cream color omit the Spanish white. 

To Prevent Snow Water from Penetrating Shoes. 

This simple and effectual remedy is nothing more than a little 
beeswax and mutton suet warmed in' a pipkin until in a liquid 
state. Then rub some of it lightly over the edges of the sole 
where the stitches are, which will repel the wet, and not in the 
least prevent the blacking from having the usual effect. 

To Increase the Laying of Eggs. 

The best method is to mix with their food every other day, 
about a teaspoonful of ground pepper (cayenne) to each dozen 
fowls. While upon this subject it would be well to say that if 
your hens lay soft eggs, or eggs without shells, you should put 
plenty of old plaster, egg shells or even oyster shells broken up 
where they can get it. 



How to Cause Vegetables and Fruits to Grow to an 
Enormous Size, etc. 

A curious discovery has recently been made public in France 
in regard to the culture of vegetables and fruit trees. By water- 
ing with a solution of sulphate of iron, the most wonderful 
fecundity has been attained. Pear trees and beans which have 
been submitted to this treatment have nearly doubled in size of 
their productions, and a noticeable improvement has been re- 
marked in their flavor. Dr. Bewurt reports that while at the 
head of an establishment at Enghein or the sulphurous springs, 
he had the gardens and plantations connected with it watered 
during seven weeks of the early spring with sulphurous water, 
and not only the plantation prospered to a remarkable extent, 
but flowers acquired a peculiar brilliancy of coloring and a 
healthy aspect which attracted universal attention. 

How to get New Varieties of Potatoes. 

When the vines are done growing and are turned brown, the 
seed is ripe, then take the balls and string with a large needle and 
thread, hang them in a dry place where they will gradually dry 
and mature without danger and injury from frost. In the month 
of April soak the balls several hours from the pulp. When 
washed and dried they are 'fit for sowing in rows in a bed well 
prepared in a garden. They will sprout in a fortnight. They 
must be attended to like other vegetables. When about two 
inches high they may be thinned and transplanted in rows; as 
they increase in size they should be hilled. In the autumn 
many of them will be the size of a walnut and from that to a 
pea. In the following spring they should be planted in hills, 
putting the large ones together. They will in the second season 
attain their full size, and will exhibit several varieties of form, 
and may then be selected to suit the judgment of the cultivator. 
I would prefer gathering the balls from potatoes of a good kind. 
The first crop from these seeds will be productive, and will con- 



II 

tinue so for many years, gradually deteriorating until they will 
need a renewal by the process. 

To take Iron-Mould out of Linen. 

Hold the iron-mould on a tankard of boiling water and rub 
on the spot a little juice of sorrel and a Httle salt, and when the 
cloth has thoroughly imbibed the juice, wash it in lye. 

To Renew Old Letters or Papers. 

Boil galls in wine and sponge over the surface. The letters 
or writings will be as fresh as ever. 



JOCKEY TRICKS. 

How to make a Foundered and Spavined Ho7'se go off Lvnber, 

Take tincture cayenne one ounce, laudanum two ounces, 
alcohol one pint ; rub the shoulders well with warm water; then 
rub the above on his shoulders and backbone ; give him one 
ounce of laudanum and one pint of gin, put it down his throat 
with a pint bottle ; put his feet in warm water, as hot as he can 
bear it ; take a little spirits of turpentine, rub it on the bottom of 
his feet with a sponge. After taking them out of the water, 
drive him about a half a mile or a mile until he comes out as 
limber as a rag. 

How to make Old Horses Appear Young. 

Take tincture of assafoetida one ounce, tincture of cantharides 
one ounce, oil of cloves one ounce, oil of cinnamon one ounce, 
antimony two ounces, fenugreek one ounce, fourth proof brandy 
half gallon. Let it stand ten days then give ten drops in one 
gallon of water. 



12 

How to make a True Pulling Horse Balk. 

Take tincture of cantharides one ounce, and corrosive subli- 
mate one drachm. Mix and bathe the shoulders at night. 

How to Distinguish Between Distemper and Glanders. 

The discharge from the nose, if glanders, will sink in the v/ater, 
if distemper will not. 

To make a Horse Fleshy in a Short Time. 

Feed with buckwheat bran, to which add a little of the shorts; 
keep in a dark stable. Half a day's drive will make a horse 
fattened in this way poor. 

How to make a Horse Stand by his Feed and not Eat it. 

Grease the front teeth and the roof of his mouth with tallow 
and he will not eat until you wash it out. 

How to make a Horse Appear as if he had the Glanders. 
Melt fresh butter and pour in his ears. 

How to make a Horse appear as if Foundered. 

Take a fine wire or any substitute and fasten it around the 
postern joint at night ; smooth the hair down over it nicely, and 
by morning he will walk as stiff as if foundered. 

4fc- 



Increase of Milk and Butter. 

If cows are given four ounces of French boiled hemp seed it 
will greatly increase the quantity of milk. If pans are turned 
over the milk for fifteen minutes when first milked, or till cold, 
the same milk will give double the quantity of butter. 



Poultice for Burns op Frozen Flesh. 

Indian meal poultices, covered with young hyson tea, moist- 
ened with hot water, and laid over burns or frozen flesh as hot 
as can be borne, will relieve the pain in five minutes, and blis- 
ters, if they have not, will not arise. One poultice is generally 
sufficient. 

To Preserve Grapes. 

Take a cask or barrel which will hold water, and put into it 
first a layer of bran dried in an oven, or of ashes well dried and 
sifted, upon tiiis place a layer of grapes well cleaned and gath- 
ered in the afternoon of a dry day before they were perfectly 
ripe. Proceed thus with alternate layers of bran or ashes and 
grapes, till the barrel is full, taking care that the grapes do not 
touch each other, and let the last layer be of bran or ashes, then 
close the barrel so that the air may not penetrate, which is an 
essential point. Grapes thus packed will keep nine months or a 
year. To restore them to freshness, cut the end of the stalk of 
each bunch of grapes, and put into red wine the same as you 
would put flowers in water. White grapes should be put into 
white wine. 

Artificial Honey. 

Take ten pounds of good white (brown) sugar, three pounds 
soft water, two and a half pounds of bee bread honey, forty 
grains cream tartar, twelve drops oil of peppermint, three 
ounces gum arabic, one drop attar of roses ; put them in a brass 
or copper kettle and boil them for five minutes, then take two 
teaspoonsful pulverized slippery elm and mix with one pound 
of water ; then strain it and mix it into a kettle, take it off and 
beat up the white of two eggs and stir them in ; let it stand two 
minutes, then skim it well and when nearly cold add one pound 
of pure bees' honey ; and so on for larger quantities. 



14 

Glue to Resist Moisture. 

Glue five parts, resin four parts, red ochre four parts, mix with 
smallest possible quantity of water. 

Cooley's Corn Plaster. 

In a piece of card board cut a round hole about the size of the 
central portion of the corn, lay the card on a piece of adhesive 
plaster and warm the spot of plaster exposed by the hole in the 
card by holding a hot iron near it for a second or two, then re- 
move the card and sprinkle some finely powdered nitrate of 
silver on the warm spot of the plaster. When cold shake off 
the loose powder and apply to the corn. Two or three applica- 
cations seldom fails to cure. 

Green Salve. 

White pine turpentine and lard half pound each, honey and 
beeswax quarter of a pound each ; melt all together, then stir 
in a half ounce of finely powdered verdigris. This ointment 
cannot be surpassed when used for deep wounds ; it prevents 
proud-flesh from forming, and keeps up a healthy discharge. 

Blood-Maker and Purifier. 

Mix half an ounce of sulphate of maganese in one pint of 
water. Take a wine-glassful three times a day. 

Solid Candles from Lard. 

Dissolve a quarter pound of alum, quarter pound of saltpetre 
in half pint of water on a slow fire ; then take three pounds of 
lard, cut in small pieces and put into the pot with this solution, 
stirring it constantly over a very moderate fire until the lard is 
all dissolved, then simmer it until all steam ceases to rise, then 
take it off immediately, for if you let it stay on too long, it will 
discolor the candles. Candles made in this way are harder and 
much better than those made from tallow. 



15 

Champagne Cider, 

Good pale cider one hogshead, spirits three gallons, sugar 
twenty pounds ; mix and let it stand two weeks, then fine with 
skimmed milk one half gallon; this will be very pale, and a 
similar article, when properly bottled and labelled, opens so 
brisk that even good judges have mistaken it for genuine cham- 
pagne. 

To Mend Crockery. 

Four pounds of white glue, one and a half pounds of dry 
white lead, one half pound isinglass, one gallon of soft water, 
one quart of alcohol, one half pint of white varnish. Dissolve 
the glue and isinglass in the water by a gentle heat if preferred ; 
stir in the lead ; mix the alcohol with the varnish, and then mix 
the whole together. 

Alum in Starch. 

For starching muslins, ginghams and calicoes, dissolve a piece 
of alum the size of a shell-bark for every pint of starch and add 
to it. By so doing the colors will keep bright for a long time. 

Remedy Against Moths. 

An ounce of gum camphor and one of the powdered shell of 
red pepper are macerated in eight ounces of strong alcohol for 
several days, then strained. With this tincture the furs or clothes 
are sprinkled over and rolled up in sheets. Instead of pepper, 
bitter apple may be used. 

To Give a Stove a Fine Appearance. 

A teaspoonful of pulverized alum mixed with sto\e polish 
will give the stove a fine lustre which will be quite permanent. 

Nervousness. 

This unhealthy state of system depends upon general debihty. 
It is often inherited from birth, and as often brought on by excess 



i6 

of sedentary occupation, overstrained employment of the brain, 
mental emotion, dissipation and excess. The nerves consist of 
structures of fibres or cords passing through the entire body, 
branching off from and having connection with each other and 
finally centres on the brain. They are the organs of feeling and 
sensation of every kind, and through them the mind operates 
upon the body; it is obvious, therefore, that what is termed the 
"nervous system," has an important part in the bodily functions, 
and upon them, not only much of the health, but happiness de- 
pends. 

Treatment . — The cure of nervous complaints lies more in 
moral than medical treatment. For although much good may 
be effected by tonics, such as bark, quinine, etc., there is far 
more benefit from attention to diet and regimen. In such cases 
sohd food should preponderate over liquid, and the indulgence 
in warm and relaxing fluids should be avoided ; plain and nour- 
ishing meat, such as beef or mutton, a steak or chop, together 
with half a pint of bitter ale or stout, forming the best dinner. 
Cocoa is preferable to tea. Vegetables should be sparingly 
eaten. Sedentary pursuits should be cast aside as much as pos- 
sible, but where they are compulsory every spare moment 
should be devoted to out-door exercise or employment. Early 
bed time and early rising will prove beneficial, and the use of 
cold shower bath is excellent. Gymnastic exercises, fencing, 
horse-riding, rowing, dancing and other pursuits which call 
forth the energies, helps to brace and invigorate the ner- 
vous system. It will also be as well to mingle with society, 
frequent public assemblies and amusements, and thus dispel 
that morbid desire for seclusion and quietude, which if indulged 
in to excess, renders a person unfitted for intercourse with man- 
kind, and materially interferes with advancement in life. Above 
all, nervous patients should avoid seeking the advice of those 
empirics whose advertisements crowd the columns of our news- 
papers, whose nostrums are worthless, and who only lay traps 
for patients, in order to pander to their fears and prey upon 
their weakness. If the patient does not derive the expected 



17 

benefit by following out the course indicated above, he should 
place himself under a respectable medical man, who has a 
reputation to sustain and a character to lose, 

Paris Green. 

Take unslaked lime of the best quality, slake it with hot water, 
then take the finest part of the powder and add alum water as 
strong as it can be made, sufficient to make or form a thick 
paste, then color it with bichromate of potash and sulphate of 
copper until the color suits your fancy, then dry it for use. 

N. B. — The sulphate of copper gives a blue tinge, the bichro- 
mate of potash a yellow. Observe this and you will get it right. 

To Harden Whitewash. 

To one-half pail of common whitewash add one-half pint of 
flour ; pour on boihng water in a quantity to thicken it ; then 
add six gallons of lime water ; stir well. 

Freezing Preparation. 

Common sal-ammoniac well pulverized, one part, saltpetre 
two parts ; mix well together ; then take common soda, well 
pulverized. To use, take equal quantities of the preparations 
(which must be kept separate and well covered previous to us- 
ing) then put them in a freezing pot; add of water a proper 
quantity, and put in the article to be frozen in a proper vessel 
covered up, and your wants will soon be supplied. For freezing- 
cream or wines this cannot be beaten. 

Non-Explosive Burning Fluid. 

Take five quarts of alcohol, one quart camphene, and two 
ounces pulverized alum, mix and let it stand twenty-four hours ; 
if transparent it is fit for use, if not, add sufficient alcohol to bring 
it to the natural color of the alcohol. Keep the lamp closely 
covered to prevent evaporation. 



i8 

Water-Proof Composition for Boots. 

Beeswax two ounces, beef suet four ounces, resin one ounce, 
neat's foot oil two ounces, lamp black one ounce ; melt together 
and then it is ready for use. 

To Prevent Cattle, Fowls, &c., from Getting Old. 

If cattle are occasionally fed a little of the extract of June- 
berry it will renew or extend the period of their lives. Use in 
connection with the vanilla bean and the most wonderful results 
will be produced. New flax seed frequently given to cattle in 
small quantities will make them, whether young or old, or if as 
poor or thin as skeletons, soon to appear fat and healthy. 

To Fatten Fowls in a Short Time. 

Mix together ground rice well scalded with milk, and add 
some brown sugar. Feed them with this in the day time, but 
not too much at once. Let it be rather thick. 

Everlasting Fence Posts. 

1 discovered a few years ago that wood could be made to last 
longer in the ground than iron, but thought the process so simple 
and inexpensive that it was not worth the while to make any 
stir about it, 1 would as soon have poplar, bass wood or quak- 
ing ash as any other timber for fence posts. I liave taken out bass- 
wood posts after having been set seven years, and were as good 
when taken out as when first put in the ground. Time and 
weather seem to have no effect on them. The posts can be pre- 
pared for less than two cents a piece. This is the recipe : Take 
boiled linseed oil, and stir into it pulverized charcoal to the con- 
sistency of paint. Put a coat of this over the timber and there is 
not a man that will live to see it rotten. 

TABLES. 

In the following tables will be found a great deal of con- 
densed information such as every seedsman is asked for hun- 



19 



dreds of times in a season. 
parts of this book. 



Carefully refer to them as all other 



Number of Pliuits oil an Acre at Special Distances. 

inches apart each way 1 74,240 

foot " " 42,560 

inches " " 19,360 

feet by i foot ., ., 21,780 

feet each way ... 10,890 

feet by 2 feet 7,260 

feet apart each way 4,840 

2,725 

1.745 

" " 1,210 

887 

680 



Quantity of Seeds 7^e quired for a given number of Plants, 
number of Hills or Length of Drills. 

Asparagus i oz, to 60 ft. drill 

Beet 

Carrot 

Endive 

Okra 

Onion 

Onion Sets, small i qt 



150 " 

150 " 

40 " 

100 " 

to 20 ft. drill 



Parsley .1 oz. to 150 " 



20 

Parsnip , i oz. to 200 ft. drill 

Radish " 100 

Salsify " 70 " 

Spinach " 100 " 

Turnip " 1 50 " 

Peas I qt. to 100 ft. drill 

Dwarf Beans " 100 " 

Pole Beans " 150 hills 

Corn I " 200 

Cucumber i oz. to 50 " 

Water Melon " 30 

Musk Melon " 60 

Pumpkin , " 40 " 

Early Squash " 50 " 

Marrow Squash " 16 

Cabbage " 3,000 plants 

Cauliflower " 3,000 " 

Celery " 4,000 " 

Eggplant " 2,000 " 

Lettuce " 4.000 " 

Pepper " 2,000 

Tomato ... " 2,000 " 

Quantity of Seed usually Sown to the Ac?'e. 

Barley, broadcast 2 to 3 bushels 

Beans, dwarf, in drills i ^ " 

Beans, pole, in hills 8 to 10 quarts 

Beet, in drills 4 to 5 pounds 



21. 

Broom Corn, in hills 4 to 6 quarts 

Buckwheat, broadcast |^ to i bushel 

Carrot, in drills 2 to 3 pounds 

Corn, in hills 8 quarts 

Corn, in soiling 3 bushels 

Clover, Alsike 5 pounds 

Clover, Red, alone 10 " 

Clover, Red with Timothy 10 " 

Clover. White 6 to 8 " 

Clover, Lucerne 15 " 

Cucumber, in hills i to 2 " 

Flax, broadcast . . i to 2 bushels 

Grass, Blue, alone 3 

Hungarian j^ " 

Lawn 3 " 

Orchard 2 to 3 

Red Top 2 „ 

Rye 2 

R. L Bent 3 " 

Timothy % 

Millet yi " 

Mustard, broadcast 12 to 16 quarts 

Oats, broadcast 2 to 3 bushels 

Onions, in drills 4 to 6 pounds 

Parsnips, in drills 4 to 5 " 

Peas, Early, in drills 1}^ bushels 

" Marrowfat, in drills i X 

" broadcast ... 3 " 

Potato, Cuttubers, in drills 10 " 



22 

Radish, broadcast ' lo pounds 

in drills 6 to 8 

Rye, broadcast i>^ to 2 bushels 

Salsify, in drills 6 to 8 pounds 

Sorghum lo to 12 

Spinach, in drills 8 to 10 " 

Turnip, in drills i " 

" broadcast 2 " 

Vetches, broadcast 2 to 3 bushels 

Wheat, broadcast i ;^ to 2 " 

Clover 8 pounds ] 

Timothy 6 quarts V together for i acre 

Red Top I bushel ] 



Cheap and Good Vinegar. 

To eight gallons of clean rain water add three quarts of mo- 
lasses ; turn the mixture into a clean, tight cask, shake it well 
two or three times, and add three spoonsful of good yeast or two 
yeast cakes. Place the cask in a warm place, and in ten or 
twelve days add a sheet of brown paper smeared with[molasses, 
and torn into narrow strips and you will soon have a good vine- 
gar. The paper is necessary to form the "mother" or life of the 
vinegar. 

Great English Harness Blacking. 

Three ounces turpentine, two ounceswhite wax, tobe dissolved 
together over a slow fire ; then add one ounce of ivory black 
and one drachm of indigo, and stir till cold. Apply very thin, 
brush afterwards, and it will give a beautiful polish. This 
blacking keeps the leather soft, and properly applied gives a 
good polish. It is excellent for buggy tops, harness, etc. Old 



23 

harness, if hard, may be washed in warm water, and when 
nearly dry, grease it with neat's foot oil. 



To keep Cider Sweet and Sweeten Sour Cider. 

To keep cider perfect, take a keg and bore holes in the bottom 
of it, spread a piece of woolen cloth at the bottom, then fill with 
clean sand closely packed ; draw your cider from a barrel just 
as fast as it runs through the sand ; after this put in clean barrels 
which have had a piece of cotton or linen cloth, two by seven 
inches, dipped in melted sulphur and burned inside of them, 
thereby absorbing the sulphur fumes ; (this process will also 
sweeten sour cider) then keep it in a cellar or room, where there 
is no fire, and add a half pound of white mustard seed to each 
barrel. 

Apple Butter Without Apples. 

Take one half pint of cheap molasses (good molasses won't 
do) the cheap black molasses is the best for this use, and one 
half pint of good vinegar, mix well together, put it over the fire 
till it boils, take it off and take one-eighth pint of wheat-flour 
and cold water enough to make a thin batter and mix well, then 
pour all these together, and boil until it gets as thick as you 
want it ; stir all the time ; put in cinnamon or allspice to suit 
the taste. You will then have a splendid apple butter. 



How to Make Old Orchards New. 

It is very well known that the reason why peach, apple, 
quince and pear orchards gradually grow poorer and poorer 
until they cease to produce at all, is because the potash is ex- 
hausted from the soil by the plant. This potash must be restored 
and the most effective way to do it is to use the following com- 
pound, discovered by a distinguished German chemist : Thirty 



24 

parts of sulphate of potash, fifteen parts sulphate of magnesia, 
thirty parts salt, fifteen parts gypsum (plaster of paris), five 
parts chloride of magnesia. This should be roughly powdered 
and mixed, and then mingled with barn-yard manure, or dug in 
about the roots of trees. From ten to twenty pounds to a 
tree is quite enough. 

Art of Killing Rats Without Traps or Poison. 

Take common sponge dried, cut in small pieces, soak in lard, 
tallow or meat gravy ; place these pieces within easy access to 
the rats ; they will eat greedily, the moisture of the stomach 
will cause the pieces to swell and kill the rats. Water placed 
within reach will hasten the results. 



Much Butter from Little Milk. 

Take four ounces pulverized alum, half ounce pulverized 
gum arabic, fifty grains of pepsin, place in a bottle for use as 
required. A teaspoonful of this mixture added to one pint of 
new milk upon churning, makes one pound of butter. 

To Increase Flow of Milk in Cows. 

Give your cows, three times a day, water slightly warmed, 
slightly salted, in which bran has been stirred at the rate of one 
quart to two gallons of water. You will find if you have not 
tried this daily practice, that the cow will give twenty-five per 
cent, more milk, and she will become so much attached to the 
diet that she will refuse to drink clear water unless very thirsty; 
but this mess she will drink at almost any time and ask for 
more. The amount of this drink necessary is an ordinary water 
pail full each time, morning, noon and night. Avoid giving the 
cows " slops" as they are no more fit for the animal than they 
are for the human. 



25 

To Make Hens Lay the Whole Year. 

Give each hen half ounce of fresh meat every day, and mix 
a small amount of red pepper with their food during the winter. 
Give them plenty of grain, water, gravel and lime, and allow 
no cocks to run with them. 



To Make Cucumber Vines Bear Five Times. 

When a cucumber is taken from the vines, let it be cut with 
a knife, leaving about the eighth of an inch of the cucumber to 
the vine on the stem, then slit the stem with a knife from its end 
to the vine, leaving a portion of the cucumber on each division, 
and on each separate slit there will be a new cucumber as large 
as the first. 

Preserving Eggs. 

The following mixture was patented several years ago by 
Mr. Jayne, of Sheffield, England. He alleged that by means 
of it he could keep eggs two years. Put into a tub or vessel 
one bushel of quicklime, two pounds of salt, half a pound of 
cream of tartar, and mix the same together with as much water 
as will reduce the composition or mixture to that consistency that 
it will cause an egg put into it to swim with its top just above 
the liquid. Then put and keep the eggs therein. 

To Cure Butter. 

Take two parts of fine salt, one part of loaf sugar, one part of 
saltpetre, mix completely. Use one ounce of this mixture to 
each pound of butter ; work well. Bury your butter firkins in 
the earth in your cellar bottom, tops nearly with the ground, or 
store away in a very cool place, covering the butter with a clean 
cloth and a strong brine on the top, and it will keep two years 
if desired. 



26 



Chapped Hands and Lips. 



One-quarter pound of honey and one-quarter pound of sal 
soda with one pint of water. Apply often. 



Centennial Gold Medal Prize Vinegar. 

Mix twenty-five gallons of warm rain water with four gallons 
of molasses and one gallon of yeast, let it ferment, you will soon 
have the best of vinegar. Keep adding these articles in propor- 
tion as the stock is sold. Use brewers' yeast. 

For Grocers' Sale. 

Take three barrels, let one of them be your vinegar barrel. 
Fill this last up before it is quite empty, with molasses two gal- 
lons, soft water eleven gallons, yeast one quart, keeping these 
proportions in filling up the whole three barrels, sell the vinegar 
out of the old vinegar barrel as soon as it is ready, which will be 
in a short time, when nearly ready or nearly empty for to use 
again, fill it up with the fluid as before and pass on to sell out 
the next barrel, by the time it is disposed of go on to the last, 
then go back to the first, filling up your barrels in every case 
when nearly empty, and you will always keep a stock of good 
vinegar on hand, unless your sales are very large. Have the 
bung-holes open in the barrels to admit air. The free admission 
of warm air hastens the process. Use brewers' yeast, 

N. B. — I am selling the above recipe extensively for (^2.00) 
two dollars. 

White Wine Vinegar. 

Mash up twenty pounds raisins and add ten gallons of water; 
let it stand in a warm place for one month and you will have 



27 

a pure white wine vinegar. The raisins can be used a second 
time the same way. 

N. B. — The above recipe is the most profitable one this book 
contains, as its manufacture is so cheap that any one can make 
a handsome profit by its sales. 



Depression of Spirits. 

This distressing stale may depend on excessive exhaustion of 
nervous power from anxiety, disappointment or undue mental 
exertion. It may also originate in bilious affections or derange- 
ment of the general health, and these little causes often enter 
into combination with those first mentioned. Treatment. —The 
first thing is to turn the attention and thoughts from those objects 
and channels which may prove prejudicial, then endeavor to 
brace up the nerves and gain tone for the general system by 
exercise on horseback or on foot, by regulated diet and early 
hours. Indolence and luxurious living should be avoided, 
active employment should be resorted to and the mind engaged 
in some pursuit which will afford interest as well as employment. 
With regard to medical treatment, the state of the bowels must 
be attended to, which in these cases are often torpid and in- 
active. To rem.edy this the following should be taken : 

Extract of aloes 30 grains. 

Castile soap . . . . . . 20 grains. 

Oil of cloves 3 drops. 

Mix and divide into pills. This mixture will make twelve 
pills, and take one or two for a dose, according to circumstances. 
The diet should be nutritious and somewhat generous ; meat 
may be eaten twice a day, and a moderate amount of stimu- 
lating fluids taken. Tea and coffee in excess should be avoided. 



28 

Be Economical. 

Look carefully to your expenditures. No matter what comes 
in, if more goes out you will always be poor. The art is not in 
making money, but in keeping it ; little expenses like mice in a 
barn when there are many, make great waste. Hair by hair 
heads get bald, straw by straw the thatch goes off the cottage, 
and drop by drop the rain comes in the chamber. A barrel is 
soon empty if the tap leaks but a drop a minute. When you 
mean to save begin with your mouth ; many thieves pass down 
the red lane ; the ale jug is a great waste. In all other things 
keep within compass. Never stretch your legs farther than the 
blanket will reach or you will soon take cold. In clothes, 
choose suitable and lasting stuff, and not tawdry finery ; to be 
warm is the main thing, never mind looks. A fool may make 
money, but it needs a wise man to spend it. Remember it is 
easier to build two chimneys than to keep one a going. If you 
give all to the back and board there is nothing left for the 
saving bank. Fare hard and work hard when you are young 
and you will have a chance to rest when you are old. 

Act Well on Your Part, Don't be Selfish. 

Remember that it is by imparting happiness to others and 
making ourselves useful that we receive happiness. Stand by 
this truth, live it out, and always keep doing something useful 
for the common good, doing it well and acting sincerely. 
Endeavor to keep your heart in the attitude of cherishing good 
will to all, thinking or speaking evil of no one, and always with 
a kind word for everybody. Selfishness is its own curse, it is a 
starving vice. The man who does no good gets none ; he is 
like the heath in the desert, neither yielding fruit nor seeing 
when good cometh, a stunted, dwarfish, miserable shrub. Let all 
your mfluence be exerted for the purpose of doing all you can 
for the common good and individual welfare of every one. 



29 

Home after Hours of Toil. 

Happy is the man who can find that solace and that poetry 
at home. Warm greetings from loving hearts, fond glance's 
from bright eyes, and welcome shouts of merry-hearted children, 
the many thousand little arrangements for comfort and enjoy- 
ment that silently tell of thoughtful and expectant love, these 
are the ministrations that reconcile us to the prose of life. 
Think of this, ye wives and daughters of farmers. Think of the 
toils, the anxieties, the mortification and wear that fathers under- 
go to secure for you comfortable homes, and compensate them 
for their toil by making them happy by their own fireside. 



On Profane Swearing. 

Let every man do his best to discountenance this abominable 
habit, and shun it as an accursed sin in every possible way. 
No respectable person will allow himself to be guilty of it. 
Farmers who make a practice of it will find themselves avoided 
by the best class of customers, for I know some persons can 
suffer no mental punishment equal to that inflicted by being 
compelled to listen to profane language. Besides, every man 
known as a profane swearer will not be credited by those whose 
good opinion is worth having, e\en when he mav be speaking 
the truth. 



Useful Itemstor Daily Remembrance. Legal Brevities. 

A note dated on Sunday is void. A note obtained by traud 
or from one intoxicated is void. If a note be lost or stolen it 
does not release the maker, he must pay it. An endorser of a 
note is exempt from liabilitv if not served with notice of its dis- 
honor within twenty-four hours of its non-payment. A note by a 
minor is void. Notes bear interest when onlv so stated. Princi- 



30 

pals are responsible for their agents. Each individual in partner- 
ship is responsible for the whole amount of the debts of the firm. 
Ignorance of the law excuses no one. It is a fraud to conceal a 
fraud. It is illegal to compound a felony. The law compels 
no one to do impossibilities. An agreement without a considera- 
tion is void. Signatures in lead pencil are good in law. A 
receipt of money is not legally conclusive. The acts of one 
partner binds all the others. Contracts made on Sunday cannot 
be enforced. A contract with a minor is void. Written con- 
tracts concerning land must be under seal. 

A Table of Daily Savings at Compound Interest. 

Cents per day. Per year. In ten years. Fiftv years. 

2^ ,^ lO $ 1 30 $ 2,900 

5X 20 260 5,800 

II 40 520 11,600 

271/2 100 1,300 29,000 

55 200 2,600 58,000 

1. 10 400 5,200 116,000 

1.37 500 6,500 145,000 

By the above it appears that if a mechanic or clerk save 2^ 
cents per day from the time he is twenty-one till he is seventy, 
the total with interest will amount to #2,900, and a daily saving 
of 27 j^ cents reaches the important sum of $29,000. Save all 
you can in a prudent manner for a time of possible want, but 
act justly by paying all your debts, and liberally by assisting 
those in need and helping in a good cause. 

Well Worthy of Imitation. 

A worthy Quaker thus wrote : " I expect to pass through this 
world but once. If, therefore, there be any kindness I can do to 



31 



a fellow-being, let me do it now ; let me not defer nor neglect it, 
for I will not pass this way again." Were all to act thus, how 
many would be made happy. 



TO Parmers. 



Please remember when you buy this book )Ou onh- buy the 
secret of making the Gold Medal Prize Vinegar, the rest is given 
you free of charge. The "information given in this book is the 
best the world has ever produced. 

I will be pleased to receive your order for any of the following 
recipes. Will send them post paid to any address on receipt of 
their price. 

Cure for Cancer 



Dyspepsia 
Dropsy 

Yellow Fever . 
Rheumatism 
Bright's kidney disease 
Drunkenness 
Asthma . 
Fever and Ague cure 



5 1. GO 
I. GO 
I. GO 
I.GG 

50 
50 
25 

I. GO 
I.GG 



The above recipes are of the best, and any case they fail to 



cure I will refund the money ; and my recipe for cancer, if it 
fails to effect a complete and permanent cure in less than thirty 
days, I will gladly and willingly refund the price you paid for 
it. Please address all orders for the above to 

S. ANDERSON, Jr., 
Linwood, Delaware Co., Penna. 



